A Winter Traditon
by sinceresapphire
Summary: The team has a day off, so Skye and Mack convince Fitzsimmons to go sledding.


**Disclaimer: **I don't own Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.

"Speech"

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><p>"Why are we doing this again?"<p>

"You need to get out more, we all do and it's our day off" Mack replied.

Fitz played with the zipper on his jacket; well….the one that was forced onto him by Mack because apparently, his normal one wasn't good enough for this outing.

"Couldn't we have, I don't know, gone to a museum or an aquarium?" Fitz suggested.

Fish weren't quite as good as monkeys but they were better than freezing his fingers off.

"Come on Turbo, that's all inside. We were told to go outside."

"Then why aren't Trip, Morse, Ward and Hunter here?" Fitz questioned stubbornly.

Mack sighed.

"They're at a basketball game to stay out of trouble. May and Coulson….I don't want to know where they are." He grimaced at the visual.

"Now come here and sit down. Skye and Simmons already went down."

Fitz took a breath then moved to the front of the sled. He sat down. Then he felt Mack behind him place an arm around his torso. Before he could say anything else, the sled was moving down the hill quickly.

The wind chilled his cheeks but he didn't care as it was exhilarating. Fitz ignored the pleasant sensation that grew inside of him at Mack's presence behind him or the rumble of his chest as he laughed.

The down-hill momentum came to stop quicker than he had anticipated. The Scot remained seated for a few moments.

"You alright there?"

Fitz twisted so he'd be able to look at Mack.

"Yeah, I'm just fine."

The other man grinned down at him.

"Then you gonna get up or do ya want to stay here all day? I don't have a problem either way."

He realized that he was leaning against Mack and quickly moved away. But before either of them could say something, a female voice interjected,

"About time the two of you came down. What took you two so long?"

The men turned their attention to the owner of the voice and saw Skye standing nearby with a hand on her hip. She was waiting for an answer.

"I had to convince my man that it was more fun using the sled to get back down than walking back down."

Jemma suddenly appeared at the brunette's side.

"Oh Fitz," she said in her usual tone.

"It wasn't _my suggestion _that we go check out that documentary. Now was it, Simmons?"

His best friend looked sheepish, being called out but he remembered she didn't argue as much as she would have, had it been him who suggested an alternative to a documentary she'd been dying to see.

Mack and Skye shared a look and sighed in unison.

"Alright, you two. We came out here for some fun. Let's take another run on the hill."

Not letting either of them reply, the brunette grabbed Simmons' hand in one of hers and their sled in the other before heading towards the path that takes them to the top.

"You heard the woman, Turbo."

The Scot got up and stretched before following his friend in the direction the ladies went.

Two hours, thirty trips down the hill and four hot chocolates later, the quartet were sitting comfortably in the lodge.

"That…was so much fun," Skye exclaimed.

The four were flushed from their exertions and the cold even though no one could tell that Mack was.

"Wasn't this a bit juvenile though, Skye? We're all adults."

Fitz immediately knew he said the wrong thing as the brunette looked down at her cup, hands fidgeting with the sleeve while Simmons glared him.

"….yeah, I guess. It's just….when you don't get to do something as a child, things take on a different meaning when you get to…..do them when you're older."

"Oh Skye…..he didn't mean anything by it, really."

The biochemist reached over and grabbed her hand, drawing a small smile from the other female. They traded a look.

Trying to push off his error, he turned to address his sledding partner.

"So Mack, you seemed to enjoy yourself."

"Yeah, it's been a winter tradition since I was a kid and my granddad and uncle would take all the kids out while Ma, grandma and the aunts cooked. I wanted to share it with you."

The Scot couldn't help smiling.

"I bet you were a cute kid, Mack. Though, probably a pipsqueak until one summer when you grew into…..this," Skye gestured up and down in front of him a few times with a grin.

He laughed deeply.

"Well, you'll never know; that's privileged information."

The brunette narrowed her eyes, sensing a challenge.

"Come on, Skye, leave it."

"Can you imagine it, though, Jem? One moment, he's shorter than Fitz then the next….he becomes this mountain of a man."

"Skye, if Mack doesn't want you to know then you don't need to know."

"But Jeemmaaaa….."

"No. Now, finish your hot chocolate. It's almost time for us to get back to the others."

Skye pouted at the Brit.

"Fine but we're taking a group selfie first."

Jemma smiled and nodded her head.

"That would be nice actually. Fitz, you owe Skye this."

The engineer nodded, still feeling bad about his earlier misstep.

In the meantime, Mack found someone willing to take their picture for them. Once they were settled, Mack with his arm securely around Fitz who was between him and Jemma, they smiled brightly and the photo was snapped.

Skye looked at the picture on her phone.

"A great way to end our day. Now, let's get some hot chocolate for the road and return to our home away from."

Looking at his friends, Fitz had to agree; this was a wonderful day as much as he didn't want to be outside.


End file.
